Music glitch on SONOS Move bluetooth speaker (DELL XPS17 - base9720 - AX211)

[RonBee]

Hi,
I bought a DELL XPS17 (base 9720) with an AX211 Intel including a bluetooth radio. 
I opened 3 service tickets with DELL. They never found the issue, so I thought that it was time to tell you about my issue, maybe you already aware of such problem.

The problem is simple to describe. From a reboot/boot-up The Laptop can connect my bluetooth mouse and my bluetooth speaker (SONOS Move) without issues. After usually 1 to 2 hours listening music, audio starts glitching (sound cut for a small period and then recover). If I continue listening, the glitchs become more and more frequents and reach the point where there is no music at all on the speaker.

Note: if I switch the audio output (Windows 11 : System>Sound) the audio play perfectly on the laptop speaker, but going back to the SONOS output, I can see the sound level playing sounds, but no music at all goes out of the SONOS anymore...

With time I found few way to retrieve from this issue (Workaround)
1- Reboot the laptop
2- Change the SONOS from bluetooth to Wifi, come back to Bluetooth, power off the SONOS and boot it back again. Then from System>Sounds, I have to output the sound on the laptop speaker and when I switch the sounds to the SONOS, most of the time it is working.

Note that I never experimented issue with my bluetooth mouse, it is always working even when the issue with the speaker is there. Which let me believe that the Issue is the Bluetooth link between the laptop and the SONOS 

The Sonos is Bluetooth 5.0. So I think that there is no realtime channel equalization as it is the case from Bluetooth 5.3. However, it looks like the Bluetooth audio link is slowly disrupting and there is no re-equalization to keep the link healthy/alive... I think that the Bluetooth link is slowly going down when the issue happens.

I when through SONOS forums and no topic related to this issue...

Obviously, the Speaker is less than 1 meter appart and there is no electromagnetic noise around.
Morevover, I have 2 other DELL laptop from which there is absolutly no issue. The first laptop one is a XPS15 (L502X - Using external USB dongle for Bluetooth 5.0). The second Laptop is a Precision (7560 with a AX210 inside). I try to install the USB Bluetooth Dongle on the XPS17 both booth radio start conflicting and then I have no result on this...

Of course, I just updated the Intel Bluetooth Driver on my XPS17 to the latest one 23.10.0.2. I am running test on it right now (I have no results yet). I was using driver 22.250.0.2 before and the issue was there... So my expectations for the latest driver are rather low... 

Regarding DELL support for this Issue:
1- The first time, the service reinstall all drivers. It doesn't change a thing
2- The sesond time,  they reinstall the Operationg System, It doesn't change a thing
3- They run the full Build in self test (BIST) of the laptop, result 100% working

So they do not have a clue what is happening here... They offer me a full refund but I think that it can be fixed... So I still hope... 

So I try now with your support team if you can think about something...
Thank you,
René

[Jose_Intel]

Hello @RonBee

Thank you for posting on the Intel️® communities.

We sincerely regret you are experiencing issues with your Intel® Wi-Fi 6E AX211 (Gig+), we will be more than happy to assist you.

Was it working properly before?

Also, in order to have more information about your system, please download, install and run Intel® System Support Utility for Windows. Make sure you check “Everything” before you scan, then save the report and attach it to your response.

Best regards,

Jose B.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Jose_Intel]

Hello RonBee

Thank you for providing the report.

For some reason we did not get if the device was working before or not. Also, we would like to know if you have contacted the system manufacturer (SONOS) regarding this.

From the report we noticed that the BIOS is not up to date. Please download the file from here: 1.21.0 (for further instructions, please contact DELL)

Also, we highly recommend using the OEM driver, in this case: Intel AX411/AX211/AX210/AX201/AX200/9560/9462/9260/7265/3165 Bluetooth UWD Driver

Best regards,

Jose B.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Jose_Intel]

Hello RonBee

Thank you for your reply.

Please make sure to post in the thread also.

We will wait for your confirmation since you mentioned the audio was playing on the SONOS speaker. Also, we would like to confirm what happens after the DELL technician checks your computer.

Best regards,

Jose B.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Alberto_R_Intel]

Hello RonBee, Thank you very much for your reply.

In order to provide the answer on the thread you just need to go to the thread and select the option "reply" at the bottom of our post.

We will do further research on this matter to try to find a possible solution for this scenario. As soon as I get any updates, I will post al the details on this thread.

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Alberto_R_Intel]

Hello RonBee, I just received an update on this matter.

After reviewing the case we determined that this problem is actually related to the Operating System being used. Based on that, what we recommend to do next will be to get in contact directly with Dell Support to report this situation. They might be able to reproduce the issue using the same exact machine you are working with, provide a fix for it, do a physical inspection of the computer if needed, suggest further troubleshooting steps or technical assistance, and ultimately replace the laptop under their warranty policies. To get in contact directly with them will be the best thing to do for this specific scenario:

https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician